Trudeau warns the rich to start sharing the wealth or prepare for consequences

Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau issued a warning to businesses and the wealthiest Canadians Saturday as he said the country’s middle class isn’t reaping the rewards of decades of economic growth.

MONTREAL — Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau issued a warning to businesses and the wealthiest Canadians Saturday as he said the country’s middle class isn’t reaping the rewards of decades of economic growth.

In a speech to thousands of party faithful in Montreal, where Liberals have been debating the economy and other issues since Thursday, Trudeau reiterated his familiar mantra of the need for a robust and vibrant Canadian middle class.

“To me, a strong economy is one that makes sure every Canadian has a real and fair chance at success,” he said. “It means a thriving middle class. One that provides growing incomes and job opportunities.”

At the same time, he said that “sustained growth is the only route to balanced budgets over the long term.”

But while the middle class is doing its part in helping grow the economy by supporting more free trade and even service cuts in the name of balanced budgets, Trudeau said they aren’t realizing the benefits.

“The original promise of that (pro-growth) agenda was that everyone would share in the prosperity that it creates. That hasn’t happened,” the Liberal leader said, adding: “If we don’t fix it, the middle class will stop supporting a growth agenda. That will make us all poorer.”

Yet Trudeau stopped short of saying what he would do as prime minister if the situation remained unchanged, which was consistent with the rest of his speech: broad statements about what he would like to see, but few new details about his plan to achieve it.

The Liberal leader at one point mentioned the idea of a “Just Society” that was championed by his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, more than 45 years ago.

He also mused about the role of government in fostering growth, saying governments “can’t do everything, nor should they try.”

But otherwise Trudeau touched on many of the same themes that have previously surfaced since he became leader last year.

These included the need for sustainable development of Canada’s natural resources, his goal of 70 per cent of Canadians having post-secondary educations, and the importance of treating immigrants as citizens and not just workers.

Trudeau did at one point say that tax increases for the middle class “are not in the cards, and not on the table.”

There was no mention of possible tax increases for the richest Canadians or corporations. Trudeau had told CBC earlier in the day that he had no intention of a raising any taxes should he be elected prime minister.

“I don’t think we need to raise any taxes,” he said at that time. “The government takes in plenty of money. It’s about how we invest that money. It’s about how we spend it responsibly on things that are going to grow our economy.”

The speech had been billed by Trudeau’s team as being focused on the economy, but that didn’t stop him from going after Prime Minister Stephen Harper several times during the half-hour address.

“Anyone who put Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau in the Senate might want to be careful about making judgment a campaign issue,” Trudeau said at one point, referring to Conservative allegations that the Liberal leader is in over his head.

Trudeau also accused Harper of waffling on his 2011 campaign promise to introduce income-splitting because “he no longer thinks it will help him get re-elected.”

Despite the lack of details, Liberal delegates said they were extremely happy with Trudeau’s speech, saying demands for more detail and specifics have been overblown given that the election is still a year and a half away.

“What he did was he laid a path,” said Tamara Stomp, who is also deputy mayor of the southern Ontario town of Kingsville. “And the path is to start everyone to think.”

Fellow delegate Paul Seppala of Toronto noted party faithful are still debating at the convention and will only vote tomorrow on which resolutions they support.

“What is he supposed to do?” he asked. “When the election comes, we’re going to have a detailed and well thought-out set of policies that we think will appeal to the average Canadian.”

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